Psychological Counselling in Edmonton, AB

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Stress

In our day-to-day lives, we are often faced with many stressors. A stressor can be any event, experience or situation that causes stress and is often perceived as a significant challenge. The experience of stress can be connected to common everyday situations, such as work demands, academic pressures, finances, and health concerns. Other sources of stress can be attributed to major life milestones or changes, including the loss of a loved one, marriage, birth of a child, divorce, job loss etc. Crisis and catastrophes like natural disasters while are typically rare in occurrence, often cause a great deal of stress for those impacted.

While the average person is faced with a number of stressors in their lives, navigating through these stressful experiences can often be managed and resolved. However, when life stressors become overwhelming, disruptive, chronic, or perceived as uncontrollable, individuals may experience both physical and psychological difficulties.

Physical signs of stress:

Muscle tension

Headaches

Insomnia

Elevated blood pressure and heart rate

Digestion problems

Psychological signs of stress:

Anxiety

Depression

Lack of motivation

Irritability

Anger

Lack of mental clarity or focus

Therapy can often be helpful in managing stress through psychological interventions and coping strategies such as assertiveness training, relaxation, or breathing exercises aimed to identify, reduce, and better manage a person’s level of psychological stress.